


Autumn Leaves

by Lakritzwolf



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Autumn Fluff, Gen, Kid Fili, Slice of Life, just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 00:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21226868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: Inspired by this beautiful piece of art, give the original some lovehere!





	Autumn Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> For [ofahattersmind](https://ofahattersmind.tumblr.com/), who makes such beautiful art! I was happy and honoured to be thrown in with you!

Wood was stacked high in the lower caves, and the last of the apples were now stored in crates of straw in cool, dark places, next to crates filled with sand to store carrots and other roots. Onions and garlic hung in long braids from the ceiling of the larders, next to rows of smoked sausages and bundles of dried herbs. Salted pork stood in barrels waiting for hungry mouths to feed, and preserves, sweet fruit and tart pickles, in sealed earthenware jars, were arranged on the shelves.

Autumn was now almost over, but hunting had been good, and the harvest had been bountiful. The winter held no fears.

It wasn’t a life that Dis, daughter of Thrain, had been able to imagine, born into the royalty of Erebor, but she had been hardly more than a pebble herself when the mountain had fallen. She barely remembered grandeur and riches, and those memories held no meaning to her. These were her riches now. Arms akimbo, she surveyed the larder filled to the rafters that would see her family safe through winter and spring. And with a nod to herself, she closed the door behind her. There was a deep satisfaction in watching the fruits of your labour.

“Amad!”

Dis turned around, and smiled at her firstborn coming around the corner, golden hair all over the place, smudges of dirt on his cheeks.

“Where have you been, givashel?” she asked with a soft laugh. “Have you been helping the miners gather coal?”

Fili shook his head, curls flying. “Ori and I have been to the smokehouse! They had a whole boar there, and it was huge! We helped stack the kiln! And it smelled so good!”

“Aye, there’s a lot of good eating in such a boar,” Dis replied, and smoothed his curls back. “And imagine, the dwarves of the Iron Mountains breed those beasts, for riding into battle.”

Fili’s eyes went so huge that you might have been able to see his eyelashes had you stood behind him. “I have to see that!” He tugged at his mother’s sleeve. “Can we go there, Amad? Can I ride a boar too?”

“We shall see,” Dis said with a chuckle. “It is a very long way to the Iron Mountains. For now, we stay at home in the safety of our own mountains.”

“Pleeeeaasseee?”

“Fili!” Dis had to laugh, but it was a soft, fond laugh, not a mocking one. “Winter is upon us. You don’t want to be crossing two ranges of mountains now and walk for weeks through dead forests and cold plains in between.”

Fili frowned up at her, then he slowly shook his head. He followed his mother upstairs to their hearth chamber, and forgot travel plans when his eyes fell on the toy warriors he had left there earlier in the day. Wild battle screams echoed through the room moments later as Dis packed a bag in the kitchen.

“Givashel!” she called out once she had shouldered her bag. “Would you care for a walk in the woods?”

“Yes!”

“Come on, then! Let’s have an adventure!”

Wooden warriors fell, forgotten the moment they hit the ground.

“Get your coat and mittens then, and I shall see you outside.”

The air was mild for late autumn, and while the sun didn’t have much power anymore, it was as pleasant as you’d like for a day this late in the year. Durin’s Day was fast approaching, and there wouldn’t be many days left where you could go outside just for the pleasure of feeling the wind on your face.

Fili now came running out of the hallway, bundled in boots, coat, and mittens, and Dis offered him her hand. He took it, and merrily skipped along as they made their way towards the path leading into the forest. A few dry leaves drifted in the breeze, landing softly on the ground around them.

The birches on the higher slopes had long since gone to sleep, dry and dead-looking among the evergreen pines, but the oak trees stood still clad in various shades of brown. With the next storm they, too, would have lost the last of their leaves, but for now the light on the forest floor was still dappled by sunshine falling through the thinning canopy.

Leaves had gathered along the edges of the path, piles of brown, yellow, gold, and copper, and Fili let go of his mother’s hand to pick one up to admire it. He took the next one, and another one, and then a whole handful that he threw into the air.

“I am a storm!” He cast another handful of leaves into the air. “A winter storm! Whheeeeeeeeewww!!”

Dis watched him play with the leaves, a soft smile on her lips. Once Fili was done being a storm she picked a few stray leaves out of his hair, and they continued along the path, Dis walking on the path itself, Fili wading through the drifts of leaves lining the path, delighting in the rustling around his ankles.

“Fili.” Dis whispered then, going into a crouch. “Still as a stone, my love. See?”

Fili stopped dead in his tracks and looked the way his mother pointed. He frowned, tilting his head this way and that until he too could see the squirrel busily rummaging around in the fallen leaves. He watched in delight as it found acorn to nibble on. Then it tensed, and faster than you could look, it flit up a tree, the acorn firmly between its teeth.

Smiling brightly with shining eyes, Fili followed the squirrel with his eyes until it vanished out of sight. After being sure it was gone, they continued, Dis on the path, Fili wading through the piles of dry leaves, shuffling his feet to make them rustle even louder. At the edges of those piles acorns had accumulated too, and especially their dry and brittle cups made delightful crunching sounds under his boots. Occasionally Fili would pick up a few of those acorns, to see how far or high up he could throw them.

Above, high above the trees, the mournful cries of the last wild geese travelling south rang through the autumn silence. Fili stopped and looked up and listened for a moment.

“They are travelling south,” Dis explained. “They do not have warm caves and full larders, so they spend their winters where it’s warmer and where they can find food.”

“But we do!” Fili grinned and kicked up more leaves. “And I’m happy we have warm caves and a full larder so we don’t have to travel away in autumn!”

“So am I,” Dis replied, and picked another leaf out of her son’s hair.

“Will I get a gift for Durin’s Day?”

“We shall see,” Dis replied, eyes crinkling in mirth.

“Amad!” Fili seemed honestly scandalised. “Everyone gets gifts on Durin’s Day!”

“Then why are you asking?”

“Will I? Will I, Amad?”

“Well, I am sure that Durin’s Day will be delightful for every dwarfling who has been good.”

“I am good!” Fili hurried to her side, making the leaves fly. “Right, Amad? I am good, right?”

“Mostly,” she replied with a crooked smile. “I remember the time when you tried Uncle Thorin’s pipe.”

Fili’s eyes widened in horror. “Never ever ever ever again, Amad!”

“I can’t imagine you would,” Dis said with a wink.

Their path had now reached the edge of the slope, and before them the vast expanse of the valley appeared. Oak and pine were replaced by the mighty beech trees further down into the valley, which stood still in glorious gold and copper.

“What is beyond the mountains, Amad?” Fili asked and pointed north and east, across the expanse of the valley.

“Up north, past the hills, is the land of the Shirefolk,” Dis explained. “They are a gentle people, and live off their land, which is green and fertile. I have been there once, but it has been a few years.”

“Are they nice?” Fili stood on tip-toe, as if that might enable him to see past the northern hills.

“Reserved,” his mother replied. “But also very hospitable. If you are their guest, they will be the most generous hosts ever, and you want for nothing while under their roofs.”

“They sound nice,” Fili said and went into a crouch, foreign lands forgotten because he had found a shiny beetle.

“It is a peaceful place,” Dis replied, still looking north. “But, you know, they never wear shoes.”

Fili looked up at her, squinting against the sun behind her, with the facial expression of someone who knows he’s being taken for a ride.

“I swear it’s true!” Dis laughed and shook her head. “I couldn’t believe it myself before I saw it. Maybe one day, you will see it with your own eyes. Their feet are covered in hair so they do not freeze.”

Fili decided that jokes on that level weren’t worth his time when there was a beetle the size of a cherry, and he took a small twig to nudge it towards a fallen log. The beetle however was disinclined to be prodded to go anywhere he didn’t plan to go, and soon, Fili gave up again and got back onto his feet.

The path now followed the slope for a while, with a view over the valley to their left, and the forest to their right, mighty oaks, and tall, green pines here and there with their beautiful brown and orange, patchy bark, and birches that had gone dormant a while ago, their trunks white as if wrapped in sheets of mourning.

“Amad, look!”

Fili left the path and hurried across a small clearing, past a fallen log, to admire the bright red fly agaric that had caught his attention. The wide hat dotted with white spots captured Fili’s attention.

“Can you eat it?”

“No, givashel. It is pretty, but not good for eating. It won’t kill you, but it will make you sick.”

“But it’s so pretty!”

“So are nightshade berries, and you remember what I told you about them?”

Fili looked up at her and nodded solemnly. “They are dangerous!”

“Yes, they are. But if we want to look for mushrooms, we should have brought a basket. They would only get squashed in my bag.”

“Can we come back tomorrow?”

“We can,” Dis said and looked around. “And if you want the best mushroom, look for a king’s stone.”

“A stone?” Fili squinted up at her.

“That’s the name of the mushroom. It is large, and has a brown, velvety hat, yellow and spongy on the underside. It is the best mushroom, hence the name.” Dis looked around. “You can find it in these forests, they like oak and pine. Sometimes you also find a mushroom under birches, with a hat the colour of rust, and the stem that looks like a birch tree, white with grey spots.”

Fili looked eagerly around, but so far, the only mushrooms were fly agarics, and a few small brown ones peeking out of the fallen leaves here and there.

“Fili, look!”

Not far from the fallen log, on the other side of the clearing, the ground looked as if it had been ploughed and then watered before being trampled and ploughed again.

“Boars have been there to bathe in the mud. If you want to hunt boar, find a place like this.”

Biting his lower lip Fili nodded, then looked up at his mother. “When will I be old enough to hunt boar?”

“That will be a few years yet,” Dis replied. “Boars are dangerous game. You need to grow, and grow stronger.”

“Next year?”

Dis chuckled softly and sat down on the log, then patted the spot next to her. Fili sat down, his feet not even touching the ground.

“You won’t be hunting boar before you are declared battle ready, givashel. You saw today at the smokehouse how big they are. And especially the males are vicious, and have huge, sharp canines that can kill a grown warrior if he is not careful.”

Fili looked up at her with a frown.

“We can go out tomorrow again, if the weather permits it. Then we can take a basket for mushrooms, and we can look for tracks, so I can teach you more.”

His face lighting up, Fili nodded. “Yes! Yes, Amad, please!”

“Good.” Dis took her bag, and opened the flap. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes!”

“Why am I asking,” she said with a soft laugh. “You are always hungry.”

She handed Fili a small, smoked sausage and a chunk of bread, then took the same for herself. They ate for a while in companionable silence while around them, leaves drifted towards the forest floor in the mild breeze. The high-pitched shriek of a jaybird made Fili pause, and they watched the tan-coloured bird fly across the clearing, the blue stripes of his wings shining in the sun.

Then Dis produced an apple from her bag, and took the small knife from her belt to cut it in half. She fed Fili a few apple slices and had one for herself before she threw the pieces of the core away.

“Fili,” she began, and slipped the knife back into the sheath. “There is something very important I have to tell you.”

Fili looked up at her, eyes going wide. Dis smiled at her firstborn, and ran her fingers through his hair to smooth it back, and tucked a stray strand behind his ear.

“It is something happy, never fear.” She took Fili’s hand. “Before the next autumn falls, Fili, you shall be a big brother.”

Fili’s face scrunched up in confusion, and he tilted his head.

“I will have another baby,” Dis explained, smile widening. “It is growing inside me, under my heart, where you grew as well. And with the next harvest, we shall have another baby in our family.”

He obviously needed a moment to process that information, but then his face lit up so brightly that his smile could have rivalled the sun. “I will have a brother!”

“We don’t know that yet, givashel,” Dis replied gently. “We will first know it when the baby is born, if you have a brother or a sister.”

“But it’s going to be a brother!” Fili replied. “I know it!”

“We shall see,” Dis chuckled. “We shall see.”

“Will you be as big and waddle-y as Gida was?” Fili stared at her abdomen as if he expected it to pop out any moment.

“I guess,” Dis said with a smile. “I was very big and waddle-y just before you were born. Adad had to help me with my boots all the time.”

“I will help you with your boots too!” Fili replied eagerly. “I promise!”

“That’s very sweet of you, givashel,” she replied. “I might need the help. But you also have to know, when that baby is here, I will need a lot of time for the new baby. Not at first, because it will sleep a lot. But later, we all have to help the new baby grow and learn, and that is a lot of work.”

“I will help!” Fili jumped up from the log. “I will teach my brother everything I know! Everything!”

Dis laughed softly and opened her arms, and Fili climbed into her lap, snuggling against her when she closed her arms around him. She pressed a kiss into his hair and nuzzled his temple.

“I will have you know, that just because I have another baby, I do not love you any less. You know, the more children a mother has, the more love she has, so none of her children ever have to go with less.” She kissed his temple. “I need you to understand that, as I might not be able to play with you, or walk with you, because I need to take care of the baby.”

Fili nodded and snuggled closer. “I will help you take care of the baby,” he said firmly. “And then we can all play and take walks together!”

“That sounds wonderful, givashel.” Dis nudged his forehead with hers.

They stayed for a while longer, but the sun was already hanging low, and the days were short. That night, when Dis tucked him in, Fili sat up again and looked at her in childish gravity.

“I am going to be the best big brother ever!”

“I don’t doubt that, givashel,” Dis gave back with a smile.

“I will always watch over him, and help him! We will always belong together!” Then he eyed Dis’ belly. “Do you hear, little brother? I will always watch over you!”

Dis looked at him, her eyes warm with love, and dropped a kiss onto his forehead. Fili fell back again and curled up in the blanket Dis tucked around him.

“Good night, Fili.”

“Good night, Amad. Good night, little brother. I can’t wait to go on an adventure with you.”

After kissing his temple Dis got up, but stopped once she had reached the door. She rested her hand on her belly for a moment before she closed the door with a soft and tender smile.


End file.
